I have a habit of making post titles a bit ambiguous. Doing that lures in unwary and curious readers! Worked again, didn’t it!

What the hell happened to Bill Watterson, the writer and illustrator of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip? I and other members of my family used to love that strip. It was a brilliant contribution to the drab newspapers of the day. Here’s a holiday tribute to the man’s work:

I’m pretty fond of John Scalzi. He’s a deft and witty writer, and every now and then I go to his site and see what he’s been up to. This is a sequence of tweets he posted while watching a Lord Of The Rings cable-TV marathon; I thought it was quite amusing, but wouldn’t make much sense if you haven’t seen the movies:

Things are marginally better for me now, thanks to some help from my parents; I lived with them last winter while I tried to figure out what to do with what remains of my life.

I’m solvent enough to maintain a place to live and internet access, like food and water for me.

I’m thankful that my health has been good and that I can eat well, as I have to admit that I cook well! Reading, music, and correspondence with certain distant friends (you know who you are!) keeps me happy.

This video is scathing and funny satire, mocking the pretensions of libertarians, tea-partiers, and their ilk who tend to take for granted the manifold benefits of living in a stable but deeply flawed society:

I have some good stuff for a pagan holiday cooking slowly on the back burner, but in the meantime I wanted to share a very clever photo which my friend Claire posted on Facebook. I got a kick out of this: